A real-world go-to-market case from an AI startup navigating first outside capital, founder-led sales, and market focus.
Client Snapshot
Murray Mentor is an early-stage AI startup focused on preserving and operationalizing tacit knowledge — the undocumented, experience-based know-how that walks out the door as veteran workers retire.
The founding team brought deep manufacturing and technical expertise, with several pilot customers already in place. The company had just secured its first round of outside capital and was entering a critical inflection point.
The Moment Most Early-Stage AI Teams Struggle
At this stage, the biggest risk isn’t building the wrong features — it was trying to speak to too many markets at once.
Murray faced several familiar challenges:
- A product with applications across multiple industries (manufacturing, facilities, field services)
- Pressure to move quickly following investment
- A complex value proposition that required education before demand
- Founder-led sales without a supporting narrative or content foundation
At this stage, focus was essential: don’t boil the ocean. Focus was required but translating that into a practical GTM plan was the real work.
My Role
I partnered with Murray as a fractional Go-To-Market and Product Marketing lead at ~15 hours per week.
The goal was not to scale demand prematurely, but to help the team:
- Narrow focus without limiting future opportunity
- Translate a complex product into a clear market narrative
- Build credibility and visibility that would support sales, investors, and future growth
What We Focused On (and What We Intentionally Didn’t)
1. Reinforcing Vertical Focus
- Operationalized a manufacturing-first GTM approach
- Aligned messaging, content, and positioning to a single market context
- Positioned focus as a strategic advantage for sales clarity, SEO, and storytelling
2. Creating a Market Narrative Before Pushing Demand
- Reframed “tacit knowledge” from academic language into a practical manufacturing problem
- Developed educational content explaining why knowledge loss matters before selling how it’s solved
- Established a consistent voice around workforce transition and operational risk
3. Building Stage-Appropriate GTM Foundations
- Led development of Murray’s first press release, resulting in multiple regional media mentions
- Launched a blog and early content strategy centered on manufacturing knowledge loss
- Created a manufacturing use-case page designed for search intent, not promotion
- Implemented GA4 and Google Search Console to establish a clean performance baseline
- Supported founder-led sales by aligning messaging to real conversations, not scripts
4. Setting the Right Success Criteria
Instead of forcing lead generation, we focused on creating clarity — for sales conversations, investors, and the market itself.
What “Traction” Looked Like at This Stage
Success is measured by signals, not leads.
Early indicators included:
- Month-over-month growth in search impressions for manufacturing knowledge-loss topics
- Consistent engagement with long-form educational content, with peak engagement exceeding one minute — strong for early-stage B2B educational content with no paid distribution
- High-intent engagement on the manufacturing use-case page, reaching nearly two minutes per active user in its first month — a signal of deliberate, problem-aware visitors rather than casual browsing
Why This Work Mattered
At Murray’s stage, the primary risk wasn’t low traffic — it was diffuse focus.
By narrowing the story, educating the market, and building a small set of durable GTM assets, the team gained:
- A clearer sales narrative
- Stronger manufacturing credibility
- A foundation that could scale later without rework
Murray began showing up as an AI product designed for manufacturing environments — before trying to be everything to everyone.
This Might Feel Familiar If…
- You’ve just raised your first outside capital
- Every advisor has a different idea of who you should sell to
- Sales conversations require too much explanation
- You know your product works, but the story isn’t landing yet
My Takeaway
Early-stage go-to-market isn’t about growth hacks. It’s about focus, language, and timing.
When those are right, traction compounds — even when effort tapers.
Client: Murray Mentor
Shared with permission.